


Stilinski Hale Publishing Co.

by midnightcas



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: A lot - Freeform, Alive Laura Hale, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Office, Alternate Universe - Writing & Publishing, Angry Derek Hale, Angry Stiles Stilinski, Bisexual Liam, Books, Christmas Party, Christmas fic, Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski in Love, Derek Is So Done, Derek and Stiles are Dorks, Derek and Stiles are idiots, Derek is Derek, Emotionally Hurt Stiles Stilinski, Everyone Is Alive, I know, Idiots in Love, Im supposed to be doing my term paper, Liam and Mason Ship Sterek, Liam hates Derek, Liam is Stiles' PA, Liam is all of us, Lydia is Perfect, M/M, Married Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Minor Liam Dunbar/Hayden Romero, No Hale Fire, No Smut, Oblivious Liam, Office AU, POV Liam, Protective Liam, Protective Scott, Sad Stiles Stilinski, Scott McCall & Stiles Stilinski Friendship, Scott is a Good Friend, Stiles and Derek Argue, Stiles and Derek fight, Stilinski Hale, WTF, as always, headcannon, i dont really know what this is, kind of, liam is confused, little bit of, otp, sterek, whats wrong with me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-11
Updated: 2016-04-11
Packaged: 2018-06-01 15:17:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6525484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightcas/pseuds/midnightcas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He wondered why...or even how they worked together when they hated each other so much. It was a miracle neither one of them had killed the other yet.</p><p>Or</p><p>Where Stiles & Derek own a publishing company together & Stiles' PA ships them...hard.<br/>Liam's POV</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stilinski Hale Publishing Co.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey!
> 
> I don't really know what this is or where it came from. All I know is that I'm supposed to be writing my term paper and catching up on my statistics homework. But here this is.

Liam ran a heavy hand down his face. He listened to the screaming match going on inside Derek Hale’s office. His bosses were fighting... _again._ He wondered why... _how_ they worked together when they hated each other so much. It was a miracle neither one of them had killed the other yet. Liam stood patiently outside. He couldn’t hear what they were actually saying, but he could hear their voices raising with every passing word. He waited for the inevitable: one of them, depending on the day, would get quiet, deciding they either were over the argument or a solution had been reached, then there would be nothing for a while, and sometimes that would be the end _or_ sometimes there would be another round of screaming. They had a specific way of working that no one dared to question. And it seemed to be doing the trick, given that the two of them ran the most successful publishing company in North America together. Which was why _he_ was there.

Liam had started at the company roughly a year ago. He had majored in Journalism and Literature and had taken an internship here out of Grad School. And after six months, he had been offered full time employment and had jumped on the opportunity right away. Sure he was hundreds of miles from his family and it sucked, but he would have been a fool to turn down an offer at the best publishing company ever, as far as Liam was concerned, run by these two extraordinary (and bad tempered) men.

He tried to imagine them (the extraordinary me who were  _still_ yelling at each other), much younger and cramped around a small table, planning their future company together, starting off as a far away dream and slowly becoming a close reality. Liam simply preened at the idea. He had never shipped two people in _real life_ before, only on tv shows or in games or whatever, but these two were like the _ultimate_ OTP. Minus all the screaming and the hatred and...yeah, all of that. But they just _looked_ _so good_ standing next to each other. Tall, dark and rugged meeting slight, light and beautiful. _Not_ that Liam thought that Stiles was beautiful but...okay, yeah, Liam was totally pinning for his boss. A little. When they weren’t arguing though, they were whispering in eachothers ears, having silent discussions with their eyebrows, always having one eye trained on the other. Basically they talked  _a lot_ , but not without Derek’s heavy sighs and eyerolls and Stiles’ flailing and sarcastic comments. They had an undeniable chemistry, which Liam suspected was why they were still in business together. And Stiles...well Stiles was the only one in the office who could make Derek smile. Sometimes, when they seemed to think no one was looking, they would share knowing (or as Liam liked to imagine them, heated) looks across the room, or Stiles would mutter something into Derek’s ear and the two of them would just look at each other and smile.They both had gut wrenching smiles. So much so, that Liam had hesitated bringing Hayden to the Halloween Office Party in fear that she would spend the whole time ogling them (she did). And then there was that one time they had _hugged_ when one of their books had received a Newbery Medal...oh my God. It nearly had he and Mason in tears, clutching at their hearts....But most of the time they were glaring at each other and making backhanded comments at meetings and having big blow out fights (like this one). There was one occasion in which Derek had  _actually_ growled at Stiles.

 _So_ much sexual tension.

He was dragged out of his thoughts when the door clicked open and Stiles stormed out. Well, this wasn’t good. Not at all. There was no silencing no room for apologies or agreement.  
“Meet me under The Sign in five minutes,” he gritted out through clenched teeth.

‘The Sign’ was by the elevators. It was big thoughtful red and black letters that read: StilinskiHale. It was a commonplace to meet. The coffee station was across from it and it was the only way out of the building. He sighed and went for his desk to grab a few files he thought Stiles may want to randomly go over. The man would often do that when he was stressed.

Liam was Stiles’ PA. But not really. He mostly just accompanied Stiles to meetings and took notes, sometimes would take his calls when Stiles was out, or schedule an appointment. It was nothing too tedious. There were more upsides than down.

He was under The Sign in four minutes and forty-seven seconds. While Stiles was nowhere near being quite as terrifying as Derek was, Liam had been witness to the man negotiating (threatening) and arguing (screaming at) with the printers and hell no, he did not want to be on the receiving end of that today. Epecially since the man seemed to already be in rare form. Stiles joined him and Liam followed his lead onto the elevators and to the ground floor. There, he studied his boss. His face was still red, probably from anger, and his jaw was clenched. Now, Stiles was excitable, yes, everyone knew that. But angry? Rarely. Never. Not even after a fight with Derek. He would normally just glide out of whatever room one of them had dragged the other into, and be able to switch right back into good cop (because Derek was totally the bad cop)/ friendly boss mode.

“Are...are you alright?”

Stiles looked up from his feet to meet his questioning gaze.

“Yeah,” he said in a small voice, trying to muster up a smile for Liam’s sake, “It’s just...he can be such an _asshole_ sometimes. You know?” His still tiny voice cracked.

He looked up, looking just as surprised as Liam felt by the unexpected show of emotion. Stiles’ big eyes were glazed over with unshed tears as he brought his wrist up to swipe at his nose. After a moment, he ran his hand through his untamed hair and apologized with an embarassed smile. Liam was beside himself. He had not stopped staring at the older man standing next to him.

“I...let me buy you a coffee.”

After a moment of silence and Stiles looking at him like _he_ was the one that was about to lose his shit in an elevator he smiled, “Sure.”

 

 

By the time they were sitting down at _The Tipping Point_ Liam had already texted Mason paragraphs about what happened. He wasn't only his coworker, but his best friend and shipping buddy, too. He worked more on Derek’s side of things while Liam, obviously, worked more on Stiles’. They compared notes over video games and beer during the weekends.

“I brought some files. I didn’t know if you wanted to look over them or...” Liam trailed off out of habit.

Stiles waved his hand dismissively as he took a sip of his...chocolate cinnamon caramel triple whatever or something with whipped cream. Stiles trusted next to no one other than himself and Derek with his coffee order. It was very specific and tailored. And when Liam had tried to learn it, the man had only laughed and told him that Scott, his best friend since the first grade (who would randomly show up at the office unannounced), couldn’t even get it right, and that there was no need to worry.

“How do you like the company so far, Liam?”

“I...I like it a lot actually.”  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
Liam nodded.

“You wouldn’t just say that because I’m your boss, now would you?”

“Oh no. Of course not. No.”

Stiles smiled privately to himself.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”  
  
“Because if there’s nothing we can improve...”

“The toilet paper.”

Stiles’ eyebrows shot up.

“And...and the coffee station always runs out of creamer.”

“Uh huh. I’ll make a note. Anything else?”

“The Pen Rule.”

Stiles visibly flinched. The infamous Pen Rule. It was an official rule that all employees were to write in black ink. Not red, not blue, not in pencil. Black. Ink. Derek had once ripped up an intern's entire file because it was in _blue._  She had to start over and it had taken her an entire two weeks to have it completed. And by the time it _was_ done, Derek wouldn’t accept it because it was late. The Pen Rule.

“That one’s all Derek, I’m afraid,” he sighed, taking another drink and mumbling to himself, “He’s got like OCD or something.”

Stiles seemed to have settled down a bit, but there was still a guarded look in his eyes that let Liam know that he was still upset.

“Are you really okay?” Liam found himself asking.

Stiles’ honey eyes looked over at Liam curiously before letting his lips twitch up into a smile.

“The coffee helped.” There was a lull before he continued, “Come on. Lydia...Doctor Martin is coming in to pitch a new book. It’s going to be a long and _boring_ meeting.”

“Doctor Lydia Martin?”

“Yeah. You know her?”  
  
Liam scoffed, “She wrote my text book for Statistics in college.”

“The woman can be a nightmare,” Stiles agreed, “A beautiful beautiful perfect dream of a nightmare.”

Liam instantly hated her.

 

 

When they stepped in the meeting room, Derek and Lydia were already there. The woman greeted Stiles with a kiss on the cheek and a hug, then shook Liam’s hand.

“Lydia this is Liam. He had your Stats textbook in college.”

She smirked, “Always love a fan.”

“Not really a fan, actually.”  
  
He immediately blushed as the words left his mouth. Dammit. Stiles snorted beside him and Lydia just rolled her eyes.

“No, I suppose not. Since you _are_ at a publishing company.”

“The greatest in the world,” Stiles reminded her.

“The greatest in North America,” she corrected promptly.

Stiles grinned easily at her. Maybe this “Doctor Martin” wasn’t so bad, Stiles was starting to act more like himself, despite Derek brooding in the corner.

Speaking of..."Shall we?” He asked in a gruff voice, motioning towards the table.

Liam had never been to an individual meeting with an author. Normally there was a Board or a large number of people for a presentation. Lydia must have been a special case to get the attention of both Stiles _and_ Derek alone. Liam watched as she threw a calculating look at Derek and then a questioning look at Stiles before sitting down. The others followed.

 

She pitched her book casually to them like they were old friends. And taking in everything that was happening, Liam suspected they were. Once she finished, Stiles had two pages of scrambled messy notes that only he and maybe Derek could understand, and a far away look to him.

“Are you looking to collaborate?” Derek asked steadily.

“I wanted to know if you guys would help me write it actually.”

“I would be honored,” Derek responded, sounding pleased.

The three then turned towards Stiles. He was lost in thought when Lydia’s voice must have come through to him.

“Stiles?”

“Oh, yeah. It sounds great Lyd. Even if it _is_ a boring math book. Did, um, did you want to write all of it? Or collaborate? Because I know a few people who wanted to work on something like this...if you wanted."

“What I _wanted,_ if you were listening, was to know if _you and Derek_ would help me write it.”

Shock crossed his face, “Really?”

She smiled kindly. And Liam couldn’t deny that the woman was gorgeous. No wonder Stiles was in love with her.

“I...wow. I...yeah. Lyds. Yeah.”

She smiled again before glancing back to Derek (who’s entire _face_ was frowning) like she had expected him to be doing something. Now it was her turn to frown as she looked between the two executives, finally sensing that something was wrong.

She rolled her eyes, “What is it _now_?”

She must have been a long time acquaintance (yes, that’s the word Liam was opting to use) if she was accustomed to _StilesandDerek_ ’s armageddon-esque fights. Derek looked up from the spot on the table, his face set in a snarl, eyes dark. Stiles, however, abruptly stood, gathering his notes, face set and lips pursed tightly.

“Not a conversation for right now,” he dismissed, “I’ll take you to dinner this weekend, Lyds. Come on Liam.”

He shakily stood, following his boss, feeling two sets of green eyes searing into his back. The things he did for Stiles Stilinski.

 

Stiles dismissed him early and told him that he could leave whenever he wanted. Liam still had some paperwork to finish, so he was most likely going to be there for a few more hours at the least. The first thing he did, though, was find Mason.

“Dude,” he said in a low voice, propping himself on his friend’s desk.

“Dude,” Mason agreed, looking up from his desktop.

“They’re still fighting. Like angry fighting.”  
  
“Opposed to?”

Liam shrugged. Mason shook his head.

“What are we going to do?”

Liam shrugged a shoulder and picked up one of Mason’s many little gadgets littering his desk, “Maybe we should give it a few days? See what happens?”

Mason nodded, “We’re going to have to figure out what happened too."

Liam knew they were ridiculous. He knew it. But having his OTP on good terms and _only_ good terms (because it seemed that the pair was incapable of nothing more) was as good as it was going to get...and it was better than having them hate each other (which he was pretty sure is what had originally drew him _to_ the two men, but hey).

“Yeah. I mean they’ve had fights before. But I don’t know what could make them act like _this._  You should have seen them during the meeting. I was drowning in emo--”

A throat cleared behind them. Liam sheepishly turned towards it while Mason looked up.

“M-mister Hale.”

Liam felt the office stiffen around them. Derek Hale was the force of Stilinski Hale, the devil of the company. Well, not literally. Liam had seen him be kind. Sometimes. To Stiles. Mainly Stiles. Just...Stiles.... _only?_ Stiles. But the rest of the office feared him like...like...well there was nothing really quite as frightening as Derek Hale. And currently he was standing over Liam, big arms crossed over his muscled chest, chin jutted out, eyes cold and stance intimidating. Yeah. Intimidating was a good word.

“Mason, are those papers I asked you to look at done?” He asked, glaring.

“I just emailed them to you.”

“I need a hard copy,” he demanded, eyes never leaving Liam.

“R-right away.”

“Mr. Dunbar.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m going to have to ask you to leave my employees alone. I’m sure Mr. Stilinski has something you could be doing.”

“I, uh,” Liam was about to point out that he was also _Derek’s_ employee, but thought better of it, “yeah.”

Derek watched him scramble away before turning back to his office, not to be seen for the rest of the day.

 

 

The next work day was Monday. After a long weekend of fretting with Mason, the two sat at his desk, awaiting the arrival of their bosses. Mason’s desk was in a perfect location. It was right by the coffee station  _and_ it had a perfect view of the elevators (great for snooping) and left Mason as the designated ‘alerter’, he'd send out a floor wide message letting everyone know that their bosses had arrived. Stiles and Derek _always_ came in together. They may leave at different times or have differently located appointments, but they would _always_ come in in the mornings together. So when Derek Hale walked through the doors alone, Liam’s heart sank. The man’s gaze skipped over the two of them twice before finally settling there. Liam swallowed.

“Tell Stiles to start setting up for the meeting,” Derek growled.

Based on his tone, Liam deduced he was in an even worse mood than yesterday.

“Uh, Stiles,” He caught himself, “ _Mr. Stilinski_ isn’t here yet...Sir.”

Something flitted across Derek’s features, his eyebrows doing  _something_ , but as usual, his expression was unreadable. Anger maybe? Annoyance? Concern? He only turned on his heel and stormed into his office. Liam and Mason exchanged looks before their attention turned to a voice behind them.

“'Mommy and Daddy fighting?” Tracy inquired.

She was a sweet girl. Liam and Mason had ‘adopted’ her after she transferred to Stilinski Hale a few months ago. She was stupidly good at FIFA, too.

Mason nodded in confirmation, “Big time.”

They all jumped when Derek swung open his door and marched down the hall. Liam looked at the two for a moment before following. By the time he reached him (he had gone to the terminally empty break room) he was already on the phone, yelling.

 _“You’re being immature about this!”_ & then,

 _“Yes, I’m serious!”_ & then,

 _“You need to start acting like an adult!”_ &  _then_ ,

_“Yeah, well fuck you too!”_

Liam stood stiffly at the door. He sure as hell felt bad for whoever was on the receiving end of _that_. Then the realization hit him that it could have been Stiles. It probably  _was_ Stiles. No wonder he had been like that in the elevator if that's how Derek talked to him. Liam probably would have openly cried. Anyone would have. He scurried down the hall before Derek could catch him snooping, texting Mason as he did.

 

It was around noon when Scott came bouncing in.

“Liam?”

“Hey, Scott. Stiles isn’t here today.”

“I know,” he smiled, “That’s why I am. He told me to ask you to let me into his office. He left something here last night.”  
  
“Oh. Yeah, sure.”

He led him over to the office and punched in the code.

“What is it?” Scott asked nodding to the keypad, “For next time.”

Liam thought for a moment as Scott stalked over to the cluttered desk. Would Stiles be angry at him if he told? Should he have even let him in here without his permission?

Scott laughed sensing his inner dilemma, “Dude, we’ve been best friends since I can remember. I’m not going to break in here one day. Especially not to take all of these...these books.”

Liam smiled and Scott returned it with a tilt of his head. Scott was like a puppy. Everyone kind of liked him.

“Eleven, Seven, Eighty-six.” **

Recognition crossed Scott’s face before he smiled kindly and picked up a manilla folder.

“He is so gone,” he grinned to himself, shaking his head.

“Hm?”

“Huh? Nothing," he shrugged, "Thanks so much. I don’t think Stiles is coming in today, so I think that means you're on your own?”

Liam nodded in agreement.

“Awesome. Are you planning on coming to the Christmas Party?”  
  
“Christmas Party?”

“Yeah? Didn’t Stiles tell you?”

Liam suddenly blushed, embarrassed. Scott mustn’t have realized he hadn’t been _invited_ to the Christmas Party. He shook his head.

“Oh. He probably didn’t send out the invitations yet then. He does that. As you know.”

Liam laughed.

“It’s the twenty third. So save the date!”

“Are...are you sure I’m actually invited?”  
  
The _last_ thing he needed was to show up to his boss’ house unannounced and uninvited and unwanted. Scott only grinned at him.

“Yeah Dude. Stiles totally likes you. Trust me,” He couldn’t believe a guy who had his doctorate and was a successful veterinarian said ‘dude’ this much. But he _was_ friends with the one Stiles Stilinski who had a PhD in Comparative Literature and still used it _just_ as much, if not more...along with every slang word known to man, “You’re the best PA, like ever. His last one was a complete asshole creepy stalker guy,” Liam raised an eyebrow at that, “Like he followed Stiles home at night level of creepy stalker. Derek had to chase the guy away with a bat,” Scott snorted, “So yeah. You’re totally cool.”

Liam gave a weak smile. Suddenly feeling much more appreciative of his job. And also worried that Derek was now going to come after _him_ with a bat the next time he messed up an invoice.

He followed Scott out to the elevators to see Derek waiting. Scott’s bubbly demeanor vanished almost instantly.

“Scott,” Derek said. His voice was almost desperate. But not. Because Derek Hale was _anything_ but desperate.

“I’m _not_ doing this here, Derek.”

Scott sighed and his look was bordering on pity, but his words were final. The other man just pursed his lips together, his jaw jumping in what looked to be frustration. Derek, in a quiet rage, watched Scott get on the elevator without another word. That was Liam’s cue to run off before Derek could say anything to _him_...or, ya know, chase him off with a bat.

 

Mason texted him an hour later: Derek left the office twenty minutes after Scott had.

 

 

The next day, the two arrived together like nothing ever happened. Stiles had his normal bright smile on and even Derek looked a lot less murderous than normal. He was usually at a strong 7 or an 8, on a good day. Today he was maybe at a 4 or 5. Stiles caught Liam’s eye and winked before the two men parted ways to their offices. Liam, Mason and Tracy all exchanged owl eyed looks before they too, parted ways for the day.

Stiles didn’t have a lot for Liam to do. He did have him, however, send out Christmas Party invitations. And he was thrilled to have been near the top of the list.

 

The next few days went by without incident. Stiles and Derek were both as civil as ever. The eye rolling, loud sighs and sarcastic comments never went away, but there was an increase in _looks_ across the office and a lot of small smiles on Derek’s part. It had been a pleasant two weeks.

 _But, of course,_ a few days before the Christmas Party, which was apparently being hosted by both Stiles and Derek, Liam caught them coming out of a room both red faced and flush. They both looked debauched and their suits were crinkled in places that only told Liam that there had been a physical altercation. He'd been furious. How _dare_ Derek lay a hand on Stiles like that? How could he have been so cruel? Clearly something had happened and a verbal disagreement turned physical. It made him sick. Derek Hale was an  _asshole._ He reported what he had come to call 'The Closet Incident' immediately to Mason, who looked a little more heartbroken then what should be considered normal (maybe), that his ship was now even further away from becoming cannon. And Liam...well, Liam agreed.

 

 

The night of the party, Hayden came down with the flu. He felt bad, but he would be damned if he didn’t get the chance to see the inside of Stiles Stilinski’s house. By the time he got there it was half past six. He rang the doorbell and waited impatiently outside. Was he even supposed to do that? Did people just walk in at super fancy parties like this? Well, the invitation _did_ say causal, but Derek Hale was throwing this party too. So it was probably anything _but_ casual. "Casual" was probably him wearing a suit straight from...from Armani opposed to, like, Valentino or something.

When the door swung open, he was surprised to see both Stiles _and_ Derek standing there. Okay, so the fact that they were _together_ wasn’t surprising...well, besides the small incident Liam had witnessed the aftermath of, just two days previous. It was the fact that Derek’s arm was wrapped around Stiles’ waist like it belonged there (Uhhh...?). He suspected that Derek had pre gamed a _little_ too hard for this (aka he was already drunk af). Also, Derek _wasn’t_ in a suit. Liam had never even ventured to _imagine_ Derek without a suit on. Not like he _imagined_ Derek. Well, no more than he _imagined_ Stiles. Oh, come on. That _stubble_ ? Anyone would be impressed. But Liam had always--admittedly not taken the time to have actually thought it through--imagined Derek Hale pretty much, like,  _slept_ in suits. But today, he wore a light blue v-neck shirt and...oh God, dark washed _jeans._  This was too much to take in all at once. Next to him, Stiles too, wore jeans and a cream colored sweater. And yeeaaahhh, Liam was way too over dressed in his slacks and dress shirt Hayden had forced him into. He found himself lost in staring at Derek’s hand clutching Stiles' hips when his Boss' voice broke him out of his daze. The man was smiling warmly at him, a glass of champagne settled in his long fingers of the hand furthest from Derek. He was probably worried about Derek poisoning him while he wasn’t looking...Liam surely was.

“Liam! Hey! Welcome to Casa de Stiles.”

Liam smiled hesitantly before allowing himself to walk through the open door. The place was already packed full of people. But the house was big enough that it could easily accommodate the small country that seemed to have settled there.

“Food and drinks are that way, in the kitchen. There’s a bathroom over there. And I can take your coat.”

“Wow. Your house is gorgeous.”

He watched as Stiles blushed happily, which, sad story, made him basically _preen_. He looked at him, waiting for his response, but Derek was the one who grumbled out a ‘thank you’. ...It was a pleasant grumble. Liam hadn’t know such a thing existed until that moment.

Stiles took his coat, leaving Derek looking unhappy and pouty at the bottom of the staircase.  

“Dude!” Scott cried, stepping into Liam’s view, “I _told_ you so.”

Liam grinned and allowed himself to be pulled into the kitchen by the other man.

“Here. Here’s a drink. And then let me introduce you to some of Stiles and Derek’s _other_ friends. I mean, sure they have a lot, but I’ll only introduce you to the best of them.”

 

A few minutes later he was being led over to a group of people laughing and joking, drinks in hand.

“Liam, this is Everyone. Everyone, this is Liam. This is my wife, Allison. Erica, Boyd, Danny, Kira, Isaac, this is Derek’s sister, Cora. That's Lydia,” he was visibly shocked to see Lydia _Doctor_ Martin standing casually in the same room as him, she smirked and waved, “Good to see you again, Liam.”, “and Jackson Whittemore.”

Jackson Whittemore. The actor. What the fuck.

The others were a whirlwind of names and faces, but they were nice enough. They asked him about working with Stiles and made a few light hearted comments about his bad habits and methodologies. They told him about the time Stiles had pulled four all nighters in a row in high school and ended up in the hospital and the other time at Scott and Allison’s wedding when he and Derek got so drunk that they lost the two of them for an entire day after the reception. Liam laughed as he filed these stories all away for blackmail the next time Stiles hinted at the fact that Liam had come into work hungover.

After a while the group dispersed to socialize with other groups of people that had gathered around. By the time he found Mason, he had a pretty good buzz going and he was more comfortable than he had been when he first walked in. They found a seat on the end of the couch and watched the party unfold around them. Liam, however, was more focused on Stiles and Derek. They floated around the room together, moving in sync, like magnets. Derek still had his arm securely around Stiles’ waist, and sometimes Stiles would reciprocate. No one seemed to notice. Scott and Allison soon joined them, pulling Liam’s attention from his bosses for a few moments. When he looked up again, he saw them in the corner. They were a step away from everyone and Derek was nuzzling at Stiles’ neck. He blushed and looked away. But Scott, who had seen them as well, didn’t seem bothered by it. So he took it that when Derek got drunk, this was a natural occurrence.

 

A while later he was surrounded by a group of unnamed people, Tracy and Mason.

“I have to go to the bathroom,” Mason whined, meaning Liam would have to go with him. They knocked on the closed door only to hear a groan in response.

There was an undertone to it that sounded like, “Scott?”  
  
“Sorry, Dude,” definitely Scott, “Gimme a minu--”

He was cut off by a retching noise, which made the two of them back away in disgust.

“Gross,” he heard a moan. “There’s a bathroom upstairs to the right,” he offered.

Wordlessly, the two scrambled away. They climbed the stairs away from the noise and the party. It was nice to get away for a moment.

He had definitely drank _way_ too much Eggnog, every time he had turned around Scott would be handing him another cup. In the future he would have to remember, soleley based on what he'd just witnessed, to never abide by Scott McCall drinking rules.

As he waited, he strolled through the long dimmed hallway. All of the rooms were closed, and he wasn’t _that_ wasted to have the artificial guts to peer into them. What stopped him, however, was a string of wedding photos. Liam hadn’t known Stiles had been _married_ . Or wait, this was Derek’s house? _Derek_ was married? He shook his head and went to the one next to the giant frame of a beautiful picture of a church.  
Stiles and Derek were standing there in suits, arms wrapped around each other as they had been downstairs. It made Liam smile. Maybe Stiles and Derek didn’t hate each other _that_ much if they had been invited to the other’s wedding and had been happy enough to stand in a picture together.  
The next picture was of nearly the entire group of people Liam had met downstairs, including both Derek and Stiles. Look, there was Erica and Boyd. Lydia and Jackson, Isaac, Cora, Danny. Kira, another girl, who looked strikingly like Derek, Scott and Allison, and another man that Liam did not recognize.  
He had to go to the other side of the large picture of the church to see the other two smaller pictures. One was of Stiles and his father standing with Derek and a woman who was a few inches shorter than he was, but had the same eyes as him. He dubbed it Mrs. Hale.  
He vaguely wondered if the pictures of the bride and groom were in a bedroom somewhere. Because the next one, though he had to squint to make it out, had no huge white dress in it. He peered at it and it took him a second for him to realize just exactly _what_ he was looking at. Stiles and Derek Hale. _Kissing_. It wasn’t a friendly kiss either. It wasn’t a we-own-a-multi-million-dollar-publishing-company-with-each-other-congratulations-on-getting-married kiss. No, Derek’s hand was pressed firmly between Stiles’ shoulder blades, and the other was cupping his jaw, Stiles was holding Derek’s face like it was precious china and white confetti was falling around them.

He gawked. What the fuck. What the _fuck_ . What the fuck. What the fuck. What. The. Fuck. No.

They _hated_ each other. They loathed each other’s existence.

They made each other cry on elevators.

 

He didn’t even wait for Mason as he stumbled down the stairs back to the party. His eyes immediately landed on the two of them. Derek had his head bent down and he was kissing Stiles sweetly on the lips. They weren’t yelling at each other. Or throwing copies of books at each other.  ( True Story. They had been arguing about a publishing date for the sequel of a sci-fi thriller. It was a rare time that Liam had been in the room with them. Stiles wanted to release it on Halloween, because it would have been ‘dramatic’, but Derek wasn’t willing to wait that long because it was four months away and people would ‘lose interest’. There had been growling and claims of one another being ‘ridiculous’ and ‘stupid’. And soon a copy of _The War of The Worlds_ had hit Derek square in the face. The look of shock had been worth it, but Stiles had grabbed Liam’s sleeve and pulled him hurriedly out of the room as  _East of Eden_  sailed past them, hitting the wall. )  They were in their own little world, _kissing._ When Derek pulled back, Liam could practically _see_ the heart eyes on Stiles. And Derek...Derek was _smiling_ . Derek looked _happy._ Oh shit. Derek looked _happy_ . Derek was _smiling_ and Liam was _gaping._

And that, of course, was how Stiles found him. Wide eyed and gaping at he and his...oh God, _husband_ (?) kissing. He slid his hand from Derek’s arm and made his way towards Liam (still gaping).

“You--you’re...” He started, too startled, too drunk, too _confused_ to form any real words.

Stiles looked at him in amusement, “Let’s get you some water.”

 

He herded Liam into the empty kitchen.

As Stiles searched through the refrigerator for a water bottle, Liam finally blurted it out: “You’re married?”

Stiles craned his neck around the door of the fridge, eyebrows furrowed, “Yeah?”  
  
“To Derek _Hale_?”

After a moment, Stiles was handing him a cold bottle, looking at him with slight concern.

“I am.”  
  
_What the fuck._

“Your last name...?”  
  
He shrugged, “I kept it. Looks better on taxes. Besides, we would never be taken seriously if we were called “Hale Hale Publishing Co.”. We’d sound like Nazis...and we would _literally_ be the Moon Moon of publishing companies.”

Liam was too far along to appreciate the joke.

“But the...the fighting...and the...the books...and...”

Stiles let out a small “tss” of laughter.

“That’s how we work,” he shrugged, “We try to keep it... _professional_ as possible at the office.”

Throwing books at each other was _not_ professional. But Liam didn’t bother saying that outloud.

“For...for how long?”

“About three years now.”

“Oh my God.”

“You really didn’t know?”

“No! I thought you hated each other. You were _crying_ in the elevator a few weeks ago.”

Stiles pulled back in surprise and then his gaze was focused over Liam’s shoulder. Liam turned to see none other than Derek Hale...husband of Stiles Stilinski, standing in the doorway looking... _wounded?_ The man’s green eyes, now big and sad, flickered between Stiles and Liam. From the expression, Liam guessed that Derek hadn’t known just how upset he had made Stiles that day. Man, Stiles was been right. Derek _was_ an asshole....Wait, _no_ . He couldn’t be _that_ bad. Surely. Stiles wouldn’t have married him if he was an _actual_ asshole. Right? He looked at Stiles who now wore an expression of lenity. He held out an arm, apparently meaning for Derek to come to him, which he did. He looked back at Liam and smiled as he rested a hand on Derek’s chest casually and in comfort.

“Couples fight. Business partners fight. It’s just double for us. Besides,” he grinned, looking up at Derek, who’s eyes hadn’t left Stiles’ face since he had fully entered the room--it was sickeningly cute, especially coming from the man that was Derek Hale, “we work better that way.”

Derek smiled down at Stiles in agreement. They looked at each other like they hung the moon. Liam found himself smiling at them. Watching them, it all (kinda) made sense ( _kinda_ ). Well, 'The Closest Incident' at least did.

“Stiles,” Erica came in the kitchen, “Scott’s throwing up in the garden again,” she informed nonchalantly, as she dipped a carrot in the supplied dressing.

The man threw his head back in a disgruntled sigh, “The fucking flowers.”

Derek pressed a soft kiss to Stiles’ temple, “I’ll go deal with Scott. If you go say ‘hi’ to Laura first.”

“Deal,” he agreed, letting Derek go.

Stiles turned to complete his task before turning back to Liam, “You’ll be alright?”

“Yeah,” he grinned, “I’ll be alright.”

 

As soon as Stiles was out of his line of vision, he reached for his phone giddily, to text Mason: ‘Ship has sailed’

**Author's Note:**

> ** 11/07/86 is Derek's Birthday
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed it! Prompts are open & comments are welcome! Thanks for reading x
> 
> Tumblr: midnightcas


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